Dragon Quest, Pokemon, Monster Hunter.

Case in point, if you want to make a successful game in Japan, just follow the formula Dragon Quest started and Japan will eat it up.

Aside from this trend....it kind of shows that aside from about 4-5 other games, everything else is made solely by Nintendo. And you can either take that as Nintendo makes the best games over everyone else...or people in Japan are just not finding much to play outside of major name brands and consider Nintendo to be the most recognizable. Either way, Nintendo is clearly coming out on top.

But I still think these results pretty clearly show that Japan has a heavy bias towards name brands. While its true the west has its own demons (we're overly fixated on marketing and the 'flavor of the month'), they seem WAY too fixated on games that focus on past series or a major publisher. And that's not good when a really good original game comes out. Or even a major new game from a major publisher, such as SquareEnix or Konami or Namco, but its just not tied to a major 'series'.

Last gen for comparison (includes BEST and International rereleases)...

Square Enix

1. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) 3,680,000
2. Final Fantasy X (PS2) 3,100,000
3. Final Fantasy XII (PS2) 2,410,000
4. Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) 2,410,000
5. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (PS2) 1,710,000
6. Kingdom Hearts (PS2) 1,300,000
7. Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) 1,140,000

Konami

1. World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 (PS2) 1,160,000
2. World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 (PS2) 1,160,000
3. World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 (PS2) 1,130,000
4. World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 (PS2) 1,120,000
5. Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007(PS2) 1,080,000

Sony Computer Entertainment

1. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2) 1,890,000
2. Hot Shots Golf FORE! (PS2) 1,660,000
3. Hot Shots Golf 3 (PS2) 1,390,000
4. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2) 1,160,000

KOEI

1. Dynasty Warriors 3 (PS2) 1,240,000
2. Dynasty Warriors 2 (PS2) 1,170,000
3. Samurai Warriors (PS2) 1,070,000
4. Dynasty Warriors 4 (PS2) 1,050,000

The Pokemon Company

1. Pokemon Ruby / Sapphire (GBA) 5,400,000
2. Pokemon Fire Red / Leaf Green (GBA) 3,180,000
3. Pokemon Emerald (GBA) 2,100,000

Nintendo

1. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC) 1,510,000
2. Classic NES Series: Super Mario Bros. (GBA) 1,380,000

Capcom

1. Onimusha: Warlords (PS2) 1,100,000
2. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny (PS2) 1,100,000

Sammy

1. Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou! Hokuto no Ken (PS2) 1,000,000

Platform counts

• PlayStation 2: 23
• Game Boy Advance: 4
• GameCube: 1

Year counts

• 2000: 0
• 2001: 6
• 2002: 4
• 2003: 4
• 2004: 9
• 2005: 3
• 2006: 2

Genre counts

• RPG: 10
• Action: 7
• Sports: 7
• Racing: 2
• Fighting: 1
• Table: 1

I'd so want to live in Japan. FPS is nearly non-existant there...

So to stimulate discussion, anyone want to guess on future million shippers?  My guesses for possibilities (announced titles only)...

Square Enix

• Dragon Quest X (Wii) 3,800,000+
• Dragon Quest VI: The Realms of Reverie (DS) 1,200,000+
• Agito Final Fantasy XIII (PSP) 1,000,000+
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3) 1,000,000+
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) 1,000,000+

Nintendo

• Wii Relax (Wii) 1,200,000+
• Kirby Adventure (Wii) 1,100,000+
• Legend of Zelda (Wii) 1,000,000+
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) 1,000,000+

Capcom

• Monster Hunter: Felyne Village (PSP) 1,500,000+

Level-5

• Nunokuni: The Another World (DS) 2,000,000+

Sony Computer Entertainment

• Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) 1,000,000+ (inc. bundles)

We can go together, just got Killzone 2 for Christmas and it's going to be my LAST FPS for this gen, I got enough

I think Monster Hunter Freedom is missing from your list for the PSP.

I see no reason why a Japanese publisher would want to release its game on anything other than the DS. It's their new PS2.

It didn't pass million on it's own.  Combined with the BEST release it did, but we don't have that shipment info since Capcom separates SKUs.

Birth by Sleep is not going to ship a million.

What a turn around this gen for Nintendo. Also, a lot of franchises just simply fell off - Winning Eleven, Hot Shots Golf, Dynasty/Samurai Warrior... damn.